


Operation Kaido

by Kereea



Series: ASL In Red [26]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Action, Comedy, Drama, F/F, F/M, Fights, M/M, Multi, Plotting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-04
Updated: 2019-04-28
Packaged: 2019-06-05 11:10:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15169439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kereea/pseuds/Kereea
Summary: The time has come to take on Emperor Kaido. Plans abound, but can the unkillable be killed? Can some allies be trusted? Can the way to One Piece be found? And can any semblance of a plan really survive contact with our heroes for more than a few minutes?





	1. Have to Start Somewhere

 After several more days of sailing and a bit of drama involving which fishermen were doing the best fishing to feed everyone that led to Usopp dying his competition’s rods bright orange which somehow Bepo got blamed for before everything was sorted, it was decided by the strategists of the alliance that it was _time to plan_.

 Luffy was supplied with a large rib roast to at least keep him in the room to absorb the plan by osmosis and maybe make interesting suggestions that sane people wouldn’t think to consider.

 “The shelf from the island isn’t that long, maybe a mile out at most in places,” Kin’emon said, pointing at the map. “After that it’s a fairly steep drop into deeper waters. There’s an even deeper trench off the west side. We used to send divers down there in tests of courage.”

 “Also to collect really nice pearls from the deep-sea oysters,” Kanjuro added. “Oh, and to collect special mussels for food. We shall have to get Sanji some to cook with once this is over. Excellent ingredients.”

 “What about the mountain? What’s the terrain like?” Law asked.

 “The beaches are dark with volcanic sand,” Kin’emon said. “And the rich soil gave us vast jungles. The volcano that made the island fell dormant before the Void Century, and its mountains are in the center of the island. The north and west have some cliffs, but most of the coastline is made of beaches. There are no hidden harbors, which is why we shall come at night.”

 “We’re _sure_ none of the volcanoes are active?” Nami asked.

 “Very, unless that Red Dog Admiral comes and wakes them up again,” Dogstorm said.

 Marco snorted at the description of Akainu. “He’s actually not a red dog anymore. He’s Fleet Admiral now, so it’s just Sakazuki.”

 “As the authority on dogs I’ll call him what I wish,” Dogstorm said.

 “If we can get to the Kid and Hawkins pirates they’ll probably side with us over Kaido. Kid’s crew especially,” Drake said. “Kid is still imprisoned the palace. We’ll need a group to get him out, probably separate from the Ponegylph team.”

 “Hmm…I should obviously be on the Poneglyph team and we’ll likely be working in some capacity with Pudding and her crew,” Robin mused.

 “The jailbreak crew should bring Chopper, to help with any injuries,” Jinbe said. “Law will likely be occupied with Kaido.”

  “So…Kaido,” Marco said. “What’s the plan for him?”

 “We’re going to try Conqueror’s Haki,” Ace said. “Luffy and I together are probably equal to Shanks by now. But we’ll need backup, so you, Luffy, Sabo, and Koala will come too.”

 “We’ve all got such different ways of fighting, one of us _has_ to have something that works on Kaido, right?” Luffy asked. “Or at least come up with something when we’re doing it with smarty-pants like Marco and Traffy around.”

 “Point taken,” Marco said. “That leaves Dogstorm, Cat Viper, Kin’emon, Jozu, Drake, and Jinbe in charge down here…”

 “I vote Momonosuke stays with the Barto Club,” Law said. “That way Bartolomeo can protect him and the rookies stay out of the thick of the fighting.”

 Luffy gave Law a thumbs-up for that, too busy licking some rib bones clean to reply. Bartolomeo looked overjoyed to be given such an important job and began proclaiming his intent to do Luffy proud while the discussion continued.

 “Yes, keeping Momonosuke out of danger is paramount,” Kin’emon said. Ace nodded.

 “We know Kaido’s numbers aren’t at where he wanted them, because we stopped Caesar from giving him the artificial Zoans, right?” Nami asked.

 “Well…probably. We found evidence on Punk Hazard that he’d already manufactured some, don’t know how many, yoi,” Marco said, shaking his head. “Or how well they work.”

 “We have a lot of seastone bullets, so that’ll help,” Sabo said. “…Why only Zoans?”

 “Kaido likes Zoans best,” Marco said, shrugging. “It’s kind of a thing for his crew.”

 “So…we can assume a general lack of Logia and Paramecia?” Robin mused. “Outside of the press-ganged rookies, anyway.”

 “General lack, yes, total lack, no,” Kin’emon said. “There were a few likely Paramecia involved in the initial assault.”

 “Still, that gives us something to work with. We can bring things to interfere with enhanced animal senses, like Sanji and Penguin’s spices,” Law said.

 “Sanji might get mad at you weaponizing the kitchen,” Luffy pointed out.

 Law scowled, “It’s not wasting food, it’s wasting _certain ingredients_. That’s totally different!”

.o.o.o.

 It took Law three hours of arguing to convince Sanji it was totally different.

 “It’s like throwing sand in someone’s face, but the sand is cinnamon!” seemed to have been the winning argument. Zoro wasn’t sure if Sanji had actually agreed or just been worn down by the Law’s capital-D Determination.

 Zoro sipped his beer. The fight had gone on all through dinner preparations (with Sanji threatening to break Law’s pelvis like Yonji’s if he made Penguin, Sanji, and the other chefs late) and had honestly been a nice afternoon drama to doze to.

 Dinner was spread out on the decks, because apparently it was time to reveal the scheming to the crews at large, and their temporary Big Mom allies. Zoro wasn’t sold on them, outside Pekoms. Pekoms had been around enough to know him a little.

 And Pekoms only seemed to hang around Pudding. Huh.

 “We have multiple groups planned for this,” Marco explained. “Handling the Poneglyph, the Wano rebels, the other crews, and Kaido himself, yoi.”

 “All right, let’s pick teams!” Luffy said, punching the air.

 “…Are there, er, team captains?” Drake asked slowly. Zoro smirked at Drake’s apprehensive expression. This was going to be good.

 “Huh. That would make sense…but no!” Luffy said. Zoro, Law, and Franky all laughed. “Ace, Sabo, Law, Koala, me, and Marco are going to kick Kaido’s butt once we find him! But we need a plan before that!”

 “Which we have…to some extent,” Law said.

 “Some extent?” Drake asked.

 “That’s actually really good, situation considered,” Marco said.

 Drake looked to Dogstorm, Cat Viper, Kin’emon, Bartolomeo, and Pudding for help. None of them noticed.

 Point in Pudding’s favor, in Zoro’s opinion, to go along with this so well.

 “So anyway, when we get there we’re going to be really, really sneaky!” Luffy said. “So, everyone who can is going to crowd on the sub so we can do that! Then, _being_ _sneaky_ , we’re going to find the other samurai and Kid and Hawkings—but not Apoo. Drake says really, _really_ not Apoo.”

 “He’s really on Kaido’s side or whatever,” Law said. “So, first we get our allies on the island and get some intel from them. During that time, the _Scalpel_ will have made extra trips for reinforcements and Jinbe’s whale shark pals will hopefully have told us the best nearby spot to stash the other ships unseen. Once we have the intel, we’ll begin the assault. I don’t expect anything too organized out of this lot, but general coherency and remembering who’s on your side is important.”

 “We’ll have a few teams then,” Marco said. “Bartolomeo will be in charge of the ‘Protect Prince Momonosuke’ team. Kin’emon will be in charge of whatever team teams up with the Samurai. Robin will be in charge of the Poneglyph team.”

 “Um, I have a suggestion,” Pudding said. “Nitro and I will probably do best on that team, since we’re good at getting in and out of places. Oven, Pan, and Pekoms can fight out with the Minks or whoever else, but I do need to see the Poneglyph for Mama.”

 “Are you sure, Pudding?” Nitro asked. “Pan could-”

 “I got it,” Pudding said lightly, and Nitro shut up.

 Law frowned at the interaction. “I’m sure Robin won’t mind too much. I was going to suggest she take Sanji and Zoro as muscle anyway.”

 “See, Nitro, backup’s all covered!” Pudding said, patting him on the head. The jelly grumbled a bit.

 Huh. Now that Zoro thought about it, Law and Chopper had been really interested in that jelly, and no one was sure what it was…he wasn’t the sort to find out, but it had brought his attention back to the issue.

 “I’m good with helping Robin out,” Zoro said, reaching behind himself for another beer. “Cook and I should be decent muscle for almost anything, throw in Perona’s ghosts and scouts and we’re fine.”

 “All right, teammates!” Perona said, holding up her hands. Pudding high-fived one, and Robin grew an arm from the mast to get the other. “This is going to be awesome!”

.o.o.o.

 “This entire enterprise is going to be a disaster!” Oven said once he and his siblings were back along on their ship.

 “It’ll be fine,” Pudding huffed, filing her nails for something to do. “These crews are chaos, brother, if you expected a plan as orderly as one of Prospero’s you’re not paying attention.”

 “Still, Law admitted they’re not sure if they can kill Kaido!” Pan said. “Doesn’t that worry you?”

 Pudding shrugged, “Not really. We don’t need them to kill Kaido for me to read the Poneglyph, now do we? I’ll memorize it and when we get out, break for you guys. We’ll steal a ship and leave if things aren’t going well.”

 “If?” Oven asked, rolling his eyes. “Straw Hat Luffy has only every even tied with an Admiral of the Marines and now thinks he can kill Kaido, the Unkillable Beast?”

 “Seems like it,” Pudding said. “I mean, he is bringing help.”

 “He’s insane,” Pan muttered.

 “So are a lot of people,” Pudding said. Their family alone would make a good list. “Look, these crews do the unthinkable. That is their _thing_. We’ll just have to see it for ourselves and report to Mama, won’t we?”

 “There’s saying that, and then there’s them actually doing it,” Oven said. “And for now, I think they’re going to all die.”

 “We’ll see who dies,” Pudding said, idly twirling her nail file and fantasizing about sticking it in her brother’s neck. “What do you think, Pekoms?”

 “Why are you always asking Pekoms?” Pan asked.

 “He knows them. So even if he’s at the bottom here, he knows more than we do,” Pudding said.

 “…I think they’ll win, and it will be very interesting to see how,” Pekoms said slowly.

 “See?” Pudding asked, silently hoping he was very, very right.

 .o.o.o.

 The six slated to kill Kaido met up in one of the Scalpel’s med bays to discuss their plan.

 “All right, so, what was the analysis of the ‘can we kill Kaido’ team?” Sabo asked.

 “We had a few ideas,” Law said. “But frankly…this is going to fucking suck. I mean it. This is going to be awful. Very, very awful.”

 “Wow, Traffy, that’s…not good,” Luffy muttered.

 “Yeah well, you try analyzing all the things that haven’t killed this guy and trying to figure out how that works as a coherent set of defenses and immunities!” Law said. “There’s shit we know doesn’t work period and shit that _maybe_ could have worked if done to a higher degree. We’re focusing on the latter.”

 “Like?” Ace asked.

 “Drowning, electrocution, asphyxiation, and burning are all of my preferred ones to try,” Law said. “I can try to apply electricity directly to organs with Radio Knife, for example, or Gamma Knife. Ace can probably reach higher temperatures than the Marines could, for burns and also for maybe depriving him of oxygen.”

 “Don’t know…Sakazuki could get pretty hot and he’s been with them for a while,” Ace said.

 Law scowled. “See if I ever compliment you again.”

 “I’m trying to help you plan!” Ace said.

 “Um, can’t Pudding’s bro control heat?” Sabo asked. “Because if heat would work, then Big Mom would have used that by now.”

 “Heat alone doesn’t deprive oxygen, fire does, and I’m talking of the heat mainly as an add-on to what we’re already doing,” Law said. “Which is going to be murdering this fucker, _got me_?”

 “…I just realized we should have been more concerned about telling Law to find ways to kill an unkillable person. It gives him too many ideas,” Koala said. “Also, interested as to why I’m on this team…Sabo to, even though I love him.”

 “Sabo is the only one of us with a ranged weapon. We wouldn’t inflict Kaido on Usopp. Also Robin would kill me for inflicting Kaido on Usopp,” Law said.

 “Plus, like Kaido, you two are hand-to-hand types with no Devil Fruit abilities. You might notice something the four of us wouldn’t,” Marco said. “And your observation Haki, Koala, is one of the best for pinpointing weaknesses due to your spy gig, while Sabo’s Armament Haki should let him survive whatever Kaido dishes out. Throw in how Fishman Karate manipulates the water within the body, giving us another avenue of attack and testing potential kill-strategies, and it’s just good for diversity, yoi.”

 “I see,” Sabo said. “…Hm. You know, that thing about him being a melancholic drunk could help…really it would be better to fight him drunk, if possible…”

 “So wait to strike til he’s plastered? That doesn’t sound too hard,” Luffy said.

 “Just wait, he’ll somehow be a master of drunken fighting or something. Wouldn’t surprise me with all the other shit he’s overcome…” Law muttered. “But yeah. Drunk is good.”

 “We’re just going to try everything?” Ace asked.

 “Aren’t we the best group to try that, though?” Luffy asked, grinning.

 Ace chuckled, “You have me there…”

.o.o.o.

 In the dead of night a small pole rose from the water near Wano. A yellow ship emerged from beneath the waves, and a metal dock extended from the ship to the shore. The doors of the sub opened, revealing a tightly-packed masse of people thatall scrambled to get out.

 “Fresh air!” several people cheered upon reaching the beach.

 Law took a deep breath, glad to be out of the crush inside the sub himself.

 “All right! Now what?” Luffy pondered, bouncing up and down on his heels.

 “This way,” Kin’emon said. “The jungle is dense. Any resistance would have formed in there, and we can wait for the later trips to catch up.”

 “Woo-hoo! Let’s—mmph!” Luffy scowled as Law clamped a hand over his mouth and his older brothers both shushed him.

 “If you get us killed before we even get through step one, I will never forgive you,” Law warned. “Rush in _quietly_ , damn it.”

 Luffy nodded. Law stepped back, putting his hands in his pockets as his boyfriend ran off into the jungle.

 “…Really?” Pekoms asked.

 “Welcome to the Straw Hearts,” Bepo said, patting him on the shoulder.


	2. Welcome to the Jungle

 “How is ‘jungle at night on an unknown island’ part of your plan?” Izo asked Marco.

 “Not unknown to everyone,” Marco said.

 “Yeah, I’m giving directions…I mean it’s night so it’s hard. But I’m trying!” Momo said from his place on Bartolomeo’s shoulders.

 “And I know this island well,” Kin’emon added, looking up from a chat with Nami and Bepo. “We’ll be fine.”

 “…Does no one care that Straw Hat Luffy ran off alone, at all?” Oven asked.

 “He’ll be fine,” Sabo said, shrugging.

 “It’s Luffy, he was going to do it anyway might as well get it out of his system now when it’s night and no one will see him properly,” Ace said.

 “Oh,” Izo said nodding. “So if he crashes into anyone, they won’t know it’s him and we’re here.”

 “Exactly!” Marco said.

 “…How is that the plan?” Oven asked.

 “Did you not hear that he’s Luffy and going to do it anyway?” Vista asked, smirking. Oven glared at him.

 “Seriously, there’s no getting him to stick with it. You just work around him,” Drake said.

 “Aw, you’re learning,” Law said.

 “Fuck you, man,” Drake said.

 “So…we’re hoping to find rebellious allies, right?” Pudding asked, trying not to laugh at Law and Drake’s bickering. “Do…do you know where they are?”

 “In hideouts in the jungle,” Kin’emon said.

 “…So descriptive,” Oven muttered. Pan rolled her eyes.

 “Okay, look,” Law said. “If any of us get picked off and captured, we don’t know what to tell anyone about finding the rebels. It’s perfectly good practice so quit bitching and enjoy this lovely jungle walk.”

 “…You hate jungles,” Bepo observed quietly. “In fact you’re pretty against nature in general.”

 “Bepo, be a good first mate and don’t let the people I’m suspicious of know that,” Law hissed back.

 The ragtag army proceeded forward until suddenly even the moonlight and stars vanished.

 “Ace!” several Straw Hats, Hearts, and Marco all requested.

 Ace lit up, illuminating several ninja about to attack them all.

 “Raizo!” Kin’emon cried out in joy.

 “Kin’emon!” a bigheaded ninja said, falling out of the tree in his hurry to get to his friend. “Are these your pirate allies?”

 “…How did you know he had pirate allies?” Nami asked suspiciously.

 Raizo pushed aside a bush…revealing a campground where Luffy was happily eating by the fire.

 “Hi guys!” Luffy said, waving. “The ninja has great soup!”

 The Big Mom and Drake Pirates stared in shock.

 “Is this…the Straw Hat’s true power?” Oven wondered as Law, Ace, and Sabo all sat down next to Luffy and some of their crew started to help themselves to the food. “Such luck…”

 “What can we say?” Vivi asked, shrugging with a smile. “Our captain makes friends everywhere he goes.”

 .o.o.o.

 After reunions all around and a handful of fights over seconds and thirds, everyone settled down enough to actually talk about the situation they were all in.

 That is, how to all team up and take this island back.

 “So the rebellion’s kind of just been in stay alive mode until now,” Nami said, moving some more pebbles onto a makeshift map of the island. “With us as backup and knowledge that Momonosuke is safe, there’s a chance of retaking the whole island.”

 “The main areas to concern ourselves with are the harbors and the main palace,” Raizo said. “The smaller villages that are being occupied have all been evacuated and mostly house average lackeys. The Calamities and such are here-” he gestured in a wide circle encompassing the jungle area in front of the palace, on the way to the royal harbor, “-which is easy enough to attack.”

 “Okay, but where do we fight Kaido?” Luffy asked.

 “Well, we’ll want him away from his ship and the palace,” Robin mused. “No need to give him an easy getaway, and he’ll likely have the palace fortified by now.”

 “We should try luring him to the cliffs, this way,” Marco said. “Gives me airspace to work, Ace won’t start a forest fire, and the rocks should give Law plenty to switch with.”

 “That’s a good plan. He likes to go diving off those cliffs,” a cat Mink said, joining the circle.

 “Ah, Faust! Back from your reconnaissance?” Raizo asked.

 Faust nodded, “No real signs they know we’re here. Looks like they’re holding Hawkins in medical still, seeing if he recovers.”

 “Recovers?” Luffy asked.

 “We already know Kid fought back…what happened Hawkins?” Law asked, frowning inquisitively.

 “He was serving grudgingly last time I knew what was going on,” Drake said, holding his hands up.

 Raizo frowned, “The word of some of our informants-” Faust coughed loudly, making it clear who Raizo meant, “-is that Kaido asked him for a card reading and didn’t like the answer.”

 “Card reading?” Luffy said. “You don’t read cards, you read books…well, those cards Sanji writes recipes on, I guess…Kaido didn’t want recipes though, I don’t think?”

 “Hawkins is a weirdo magician who sometimes uses a special set of cards to predict the future,” Law said coolly.

 Luffy nodded, “ _Oh_. That. Yeah, I guess that’s a thing now, magic card reading. Go figure.” He shrugged and sipped his tea for lack of anything else to do.

 “That is…mostly correct,” Drake said, frowning. “But he doesn’t use them like other fortune-tellers. He makes them float and then starts guessing percentages which, if you ask me, really fucks with his mystical image, bringing in something in like statistics.”

 “We didn’t ask you,” Law said. Luffy elbowed him as Drake flipped Law off. Law’s tea spilled on Bepo, who shot Luffy an annoyed look. Luffy chuckled weakly and reached at Sabo, who begrudgingly passed his little brother a kerchief to lend Bepo to clean the mess.

 “So, Kaido received a ‘statistic’ he didn’t like and beat up Hawkins for doing the math for him?” Luffy asked. His nose wrinkled. “That’s…just dumb.”

 “Some people think they want to be told their future…and then do not like the results,” Raizo said dramatically.

 “There’s a saying like that in every culture, it’s very true,” Vivi agreed.

 “Well, good news for us. It means we have a chance,” Sabo said, tapping his chin.  

 “And that Kaido’s an asshole who attacks people he gets to do math for him,” Luffy muttered. “I hate math, but that means I have to be nice to the people who do math for me. Duh.”

 “And we all thank you for your kindness,” Nami chuckled.

 “So, what else do you have on Kaido?” Law asked Faust. “What does he really want with his Supernova Army plans? With all his Zoans?”

 Faust scowled, “I don’t even think _he_ knows what he really wants, man. I’m not sure if he wants One Piece so much as he wants other people to _not_ have One Piece.”

 “Sort of a ‘I win because you didn’t’ kind of thing?” Marco asked.

 Faust nodded. “The Paramount War definitely set him off.”

 “It set a lot of things off,” Law said.

 “Yeah, but…Kaido’s been building up his forces ever since,” Marco said, tapping his chin. “He employed that guy on Punk Hazard, and from what we saw in the labs the plan was making artificial Zoan fruits…”

 “What is it with this guy and Zoans? There’s a theme and then there’s just…obsession!” Sabo said, shaking his head.

 “He’s been going after the Supernovas, who are the most likely to upset the established order,” Robin said, her eyes widening. “Not the Marines, who are moving more and more into the New World, not Big Mom as she seizes more for herself…”

 “Not my crew, in the aftermath of the Marinford fight,” Marco added.

 “…Hm. It’s a workable idea, but it’s a negative so it’s not something we can prove easily,” Law said. “Kaido doesn’t want One Piece, he just wants to make sure no one else gets it? We’d need a why.”

 “I’ve noticed reasoning is not something you pirates are always big on,” Kin’emon noted dryly.

 “That’s true!” Luffy said. “A lot of us just do stuff cause we want to!”

 “Our crew in a nutshell,” Bentham agreed.

 “So true,” Perona agreed, slinging an arm around Zoro, pointing at him with her free hand.

 “I don’t exactly love working off the idea that our opponent is just doing whatever…but sure, okay,” Law said, pinching the bridge of his nose. “We can work with it.”

 “All right masterminds, tell me you’ve got a plan for this,” Nami said, grinning at Law and Robin.

 “Oh, we may have been working on something,” Robin said, smiling and putting a hand on her chest.

 “Do tell?” Sabo chuckled.

 “Luffy-ya, want to make trouble?” Law asked.

 Luffy gave him a thumbs-up, “You’re the best, Traffy!”

.o.o.o.

 “You’re all insane,” Drake said. “Certifiable, even.”

 “Oh calm down, you don’t even have to do anything,” Nami scolded as she watched through binoculars.

 “He’s right, this is a bad idea. Do you even know what you’re doing?” Oven demanded.

 “Hey, _you_ wanted to pal around with our crew, so sit back and have fun,” Jean Bart said. “The captains know what they’re doing.”

 “And one…two…and,” Nami said, grinning.

 A forest fire erupted.

 “That’ll get some attention. We’ll take out the first responders, and use them to gauge what to do next,” Nami said, putting the binoculars down. “All right, Poneglyph team, move out while the distraction’s freshest! Rescue team, we’re on the move too!”

 Zoro and Sanji led the Poneglyph team forward, Robin, Pudding, Nitro, and Perona close together and right on their heels. Nami led the Rescue team, following her were Vivi, Chopper, Faust, Bellamy, Kanjuro, and Drake.

 While both teams wanted the palace, they wanted different places. Rescue wanted the medical wing and dungeon to spring Hawkins and Kid, while the other team had to find wherever the Poneglyphs were stored to read them. Both would take separate paths, to avoid all getting caught up in the chaos their friends were getting up to down below.

 “No one’s knocked Marco out of the sky yet!” Bellamy called as they ran.

 “Has anyone shot at him at all?” Nami asked. “I’m sure Usopp and the snipers are keeping shots away!”

 “Nothing’s hit, at least!” Bellamy conceded.

 “It’s not quite dawn yet, and the Beast Pirates tend to be late risers! With any luck, it will disrupt their response!” Faust said as he bounded through the trees above the rest of the team. “If we act fast, we might not run into anyone on our way in!”

.o.o.o.

 “How’s Marco doing?” Ace called as he torched some more ground cover. Thankfully the largest trees were surviving the flames pretty easily, but Law would allegedly Shambles the fire elsewhere if it got out of control.

 Allegedly.

 “He’s doing a good job of lighting up our bit of the sky, think the snipers have him covered,” Sabo said. “You sense that?”

 “Yeah, something big’s coming in!” Ace called. “Everyone get ready!”

 A giant rolling ball of scales crashed through the clearing.

 “Pinto, slick it up!” Sabo called to the paint-logia. The young pirate saluted, spraying paint in the ball’s path. It skidded as soon as it hit the oily substance, sliding to the side, smashing into a great tree, and unfurling.

 “It’s the Hurricane! Raul the Hurricane!” Law said. “Luffy, gut punch him!”

 “Gum-Gum Elephant Gun!” Luffy said, only for his fist to rebound off of haki armor. “Aw! Come on!”

 Raul quickly rolled onto all-fours, increasing his Ankylosaur armor with Haki as his tail sent several of the alliance flying. “You thought this would be easy?”

 “Would be nice, yeah,” Luffy admitted.

 “Get this bastard on his back, men!” Vista yelled, dramatically unsheathing his sword.

 “You know, this would be so much easier with Ice around. Just making this asshole slip, all the time,” Law said as Pinto tried to get more oil paint under Raul’s feet.

 “Well, we don’t have your stepdad, so improvise!” Sabo said, trying to shoot Raul in the eyes.

  “Working on it!” Law said, ducking a Beast Pirate lacky that Bepo shocked into submission. “Luffy, try and flip him!”

 “Robin would be good here, she could push him from underneath,” Koala mused. “Hm…”

 “Franky, rockets, right under him!” Law called.

 “On it, bro!” Franky said.

 “I see where this is going,” Koala said. “Sabo, get up high!”

 “Okay!” Sabo said as the rockets made Raul buckle. Luffy and Ace took their chance, shoving the ankylosaur over, baring his stomach.

 Sabo jumped into Franky’s hands and Franky tossed him skyward so he could shoot Raul in the gut with seastone.

 “Didn’t get through the armor!” Jozu warned as Sabo dropped back down. “Good try!”

 “So we try again!” Vista declared, jumping onto Raul’s stomach and stabbing downwards.

 “Vista!” Marco yelled as Raul quickly rolled over, trapping Vista beneath him.

 “Fuck!” Ace said, shooting fire at Raul’s right foreleg to try and dislodge him.

 “Can you warp the ground under his feet?” Koala asked Law before they both had to duck another one of Raul’s lackeys, this one bearing a polearm. Law made an irritated noise and warped the polearm away.

 “I could if everything stopped _distracting_ me!”

 Raul roared again, but this time sounded different. Pained.

 “He’s getting tired! Jozu, Luffy, let’s go!” Ace said. 

 The three of them managed to knock Raul over…to reveal Vista’s sword lodged in his gut, and Vista hanging onto the hilt for dear life, covered in blood.

 “Did that work?” Vista asked.

 “I’m no expert on Ankylosaur anatomy but…that’s pretty decent blood loss, even for something that size,” Law admitted. “At the very least he’s going into shock, if not dying.”

 Several other Whitebeard pirates quickly pounced the prone Raul, making Law’s statement irrelevant in their effort to make sure Raul wasn’t going to get back up.

 “Hope that was a big enough distraction!” Luffy laughed, only for Sabo to smack him upside the head.

 “We haven’t beaten everyone here yet! Don’t go saying it’s a…that!” Sabo said.

.o.o.o.

 “This hasn’t been so bad,” Zoro commented. Outside of his teammates occasionally snagging him by the collar and scolding him for ‘wandering off’ at points, he thought it had been a pretty simple task to get into the castle.

 It probably helped that he had just carved a door in the east wall, but hey, nothing was perfect. 

  “Thanks for jinxing us,” Perona huffed. “…But okay, yeah. We’ve barely run into anyone. Just some leftovers. Guess Luffy’s group’s getting all the fun.”

 “We can avoid ‘fun’ until Fair Robin and Pudding are done reading,” Sanji said.

 “Two up ahead, guarding what looks like the door Momonosuke described to his family’s glyph,” Robin said, peering around a corner. “Someone might notice if they leave their post or go missing…hm. We’ll go around, and then I’ll distract them with a clone to give us more time.”

 “I can try ghosting one person at a time through the floor, down, and back up,” Perona said. At Zoro and Sanji’s leery looks she folded her arms angrily, “I’ve gotten better!”

 “That gives me an idea,” Robin said. “We go back up the stairs and go until we’re in the room above the one we want. Then Zoro cuts through the floor.”

 “Floor dropping will make noise,” Sanji noted as they crept up the stairs.

 “I’ll catch it from below,” Robin said. “Now shh. Let me count steps.”

 They crept after Robin, Nitro snaking around Pudding this way and that to try and keep a lookout behind them. They slipped into an unguarded room, and robin pulled out a pencil, drawing a circle on the floor.

 “There!”

 Zoro nodded, cutting it easily.

 The stone dropped, only to slow in its decent and be lowered by two giant arms from the floor of the room they wanted.

 “No one inside waiting. Suckers,” Nitro chuckled.

 They all dropped through the hole…only to be met with more than they expected.

 “They’re both in the same room?” Pudding whispered in shock as she peered at two huge Poneglyphs.

 “…I suppose that makes this easier,” Sanji said.

 “Probably makes them easier to protect,” Zoro said, shrugging. “Robin, plan?”

 “Pudding and I will handle the reading and memorizing, the rest of you will guard for attacks,” Robin said. The door started to open, and Robin hurriedly folded her arms.

 The guards made noises of surprise at what was probably Robin’s clone and rushed after it, their footsteps quickly fading.

 “Zoro, bar the door!” Robins aid. Zoro rushed over, quickly bolting the locks. Sanji kicked a table over for him to prop against the doors as Pudding and Robin went for the glyphs.

 “Oh wow, I’ve never seen two at once…” Pudding said, lifting the gem from her tiara for a better look with her third eye. “Let’s see…the…the last…”

 “The three knives show the way…” Robin mused as she read.

 Pudding looked at her in shock, “You understand it?”

 “Of course, I’m from Ohara,” Robin said.

 Pudding looked shaken before going back to the glyphs. “O-okay then. That’s good. We…we can check each other’s translations.”

 “That would be excellent,” Robin agreed.

 “I’m going to send ghosts out, see how much time we have,” Perona said.

 “Good plan,” Sanji said, putting his ear to the door as he and Zoro waited.

.o.o.o.

 Nami’s group ended up using a window to get to the infirmary, leading to an ungainly sprawl on the floor.

 “Hawkins! My man!” Drake said as he popped back up.

 “I am not your man,” Hawkins said flatly.

 Vivi shook her head as she took the scene in. Hawkins lay in the bed in an odd position and seemed pretty heavily bandaged. All this over _chances_.

 “Oh, this is bad,” Faust said, putting a paw to his mouth as Hawkins’ condition. “We should have brought the Surgeon of Death…”

 Nami flicked him in the ear, “Bad kitty. We have a perfectly good doctor right here!”

 Chopper blushed before composing himself, “H-he mostly seems to be burnt, and with damage to his arms. If necessary, we could evacuate him without much treatment, but I’d prefer to get fresh bandages on everything!”

 “Wait, his legs work?” Vivi asked. “But they’re in such an odd position!”

 Hawkins shrugged, before wincing at moving his battered shoulders, “I don’t tell you how to lie down. I’m more comfortable with them like that.”

 Bellamy snickered as Faust and the girls groaned in exasperation.

 “I think he’ll be okay to get up and moving if we don’t put too much stress on him,” Chopper said. “Bellamy, you’re the same height, okay with Hawkins leaning on you a bit?”

 “No prob,” Bellamy said.

 “I’ve got to know, Captain,” Faust said. “What was the prediction that drove Kaido mad?”

 Hawkins looked confused, “He was already mad.”

 “He means the one your ass got kicked for,” Nami said, adding, “And apparently your brain rattled” under her breath.

 “Ah. The prediction…” Hawkins said. “…He wasn’t going to…to…”

 “Win?” Vivi asked eagerly.

 “Survive?” Faust asked. 

 “Be Pirate King?” Nami tried.

 Hawkins smiled mysteriously only to yelp as Chopper made him sit up so that he could bandage his back.

 “…If you don’t remember, then say so, but if you’re pausing for drama then Chopper will have more work to do,” Nami warned.

 “He wasn’t going to be _certain_ to win,” Hawkins said.

 “…Oh, right. Percentages,” Faust said.

 “Kaido…kicked your ass…because you said he _might_ lose?” Nami asked.

 “Well the man is a well-known asshole,” Faust noted.

 “Fuck!” Nami hissed. “And Luffy thinks he’s going to win!”

 “Luffy thought that _before_ statistics and prophecies got involved, though,” Vivi pointed out.

 “Yeah, that’s just…how the Captain thinks,” Bellamy agreed, shrugging.

 Nami frowned at them both before sighing, “Yeah, we really work for a knucklehead.”

 “So, Straw Hat Luffy is going to challenge Kaido here and now?” Hawkins asked. “Interesting…”

 A deck of cards floated out of Faust’s jacket.

 “Boss?” Faust asked.

 “We know more of the variables now, the wheels of fate have a specific path to take,” Hawkins said as Chopper helped him sit up and swing his feet over the side of the bed. “I might be able to manage a more…exact prediction.”

 “Forgive me for thinking Luffy’s going to do the unpredictable anyway,” Nami said. “While you’re working on that, where’s Kid?”

 “Heat and Wire know. They’ve been sneaking me extra food,” Hawkins said. “They’ll probably try to get to him in the commotion, or come up here to me if they are unable. Hmm.”

 “Does that mean something?” Vivi asked, peering at the cards with Chopper and Hawkins.

 “…Death to the bear. Does anyone know a bear?” Hawkins asked blankly. “They’re…going to die, it seems.”

 “Nope,” Nami groaned. “Let’s…just go get Kid. Drake, take point. You're going to be our dinosaur shield.”

.o.o.o.

 Luffy laughed as their group crashed through a camp that had been set up by some of Kaido’s guys in the jungle. The camp had been scrambling to reinforce Raul, only to get steamrolled by Luffy’s team and a bunch of angry ninjas and samurai.

 “Hey, guys, look!” Luffy said, grabbing a devil fruit off the ground and stuffing it in his vest. “One less fruit for these guys!”

 “What is it?” Koala asked.

 “Not sure,” Sabo admitted. “Lu, don’t pull it out and give these losers a chance to get it.”

 “Yeah, yeah!” Luffy said, pausing as a loud roar rocked the island. “That him?”

 “That’s Kaido,” Marco said darkly. “I’ll head up and see where he’s at.”

 “Take me, I’ve got a plan!” Ace said, jumping onto the phoenix’s back.

 “This is a really big day for you three planning things,” Law noted idly as he warped a Beat Pirate right into a punch from Jozu.

 “Oh, shut up,” Sabo groaned.

.o.o.o.

 “We have what we need. On to phase two—sabotaging the Beast Pirate ships,” Robin said as they crept through the castle.

 “Sounds good!” Pudding chirped form where she guarded the rear.

 Inside, she was petrified. Her main idea to barter with the Straw Hats and Hearts had been offering to read poneglyphs for them! “I can’t believe she could read them too…”

 “We need to do something about that,” Nitro warned. “Mama’s either going to want her, or want her taken out.”

 “Keep quiet will you,” Pudding huffed. “We’ll do something when _I_ decide to, got it?”

 She’d give _him_ something, all right…

 “We’re going to need to move fast to get to the harbor from here,” Sanji said. “Fair Robin, do you think you could throw us that far?”

 “If we start from somewhere safer, perhaps,” Robin said. “We’ll need to be careful. Things have been going a bit well for us so far…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, yeah, a lot of the canon!Wano arc is getting ignored. Here Kaido's takeover is pretty recent and Wano's a smaller island overall. The stuff with the shogun is entirely out, and Tama's going only have a minor role thus far (tho she's going to have a bigger one in the sequel Imperial News). Also Kaido does not have a Devil Fruit in this universe, as he is unable to be drowned, and there's a whole thing behind him we're going to learn later. He's also not someone who predates Roger like Linlin does. 
> 
> This chapter was hard mostly for getting every set up for the next few. Have to get Kaido and the people fighting him here, Nami's group save Hakwins and go for Kid, Pudding learns Robin reads glyphs and they start to try escaping the castle, and so on and so forth. Still, some scenes were fun, like Luffy instantly befriending the resistance offscreen and Hawkins being a drama dork. Next chapter should be up sooner since it's half-written already! Here's hoping!


	3. Supernova Showdown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Several supernovas enter the fray as Kaido and someone else make their moves....

 “Are you sure this is the way to the dungeons?” Vivi asked Faust.

 “Our path is true,” Hawkins said before anyone else could answer.

 “Are you sawing that because you know Faust knows where he’s going or because you checked your cards?” Bellamy asked.

 Hawkins smirked mysteriously.

 “That’s already getting old,” Nami muttered. “Faust, are you _sure_ Wire and Heat said this was the way?”

 “Yeah, I—whoa!” Faust yelped, ducking as Wire went flying over the group’s heads, Drake trying to catch him but missing.

 “We’ve been found out!” Nami said, swinging the Clima Tact forward. “All right, time to…Bentham?”

 “Yes?” Bentham asked from where he’d pinned Heat to the wall with his foot, just around the corner.

 “How. Why. And possible when,” Nami sighed.

 “I was worried!” Bentham said. “…They’re on our side, aren’t they?”

 “Yes,” Nami, Chopper, Vivi, and Bellamy sighed.

 “Oops,” Bentham said, letting Heat down. “I didn’t hurt Wire too badly, did I?”

 Faust poked Wire with a paw. Wire swatted at him irritably. “Yeah, he’s good.”

 “We’re on the way to rescue Kid,” Nami said.

 “Ah, so things are going well!” Bentham said happily as Faust and Heat helped Wire to his feet.

 “Yep. Apparently we have a chance at taking out Kaido too, though Hawkins gave this cryptic prediction about a bear dying,” Bellamy said.

 Bentham gasped in horror.

 “Oh, you know who that is?” Bellamy asked.

 “And you call yourself a member of the B Team!” Bentham yelled, looking horrified.

 “B Team?” Faust asked, looking confused.

 “Yeah, Bellamy, Brook, Bentham, Jean Bart, and…Bepo!” Nami gasped.

 “Bepo is a bear! I forgot Bepo is a bear!” Chopper screamed, pulling his hat down over his eyes in shame.

 “We have to save Bepo! Let’s hurry up and get Kid—ai!” Vivi yelped as she ducked an unusually sharp and loud patch of air as it whooshed by her.

 “Well. Erm…guess we shouldn’t have all started yelling,” Drake mused, glaring down the hall at Sctachman Apoo.

 “I started it. Sorry,” Bentham said, shrugging.

 “Forgiven. We may have to split up,” Nami said.

 “We’ll cover you. Find our captain,” Wire said.

 “Getting Chopper to him is the mot important thing,” Vivi said, pulling out the peacock slicers. “Bentham, can you cover his, Bellamy, and Nami’s escape?”

 “For friendship!” Bentham cried, his dramatic shout drowning out whatever noise Apoo tried to make as his foot hit the musical mayhem-maker in the face.

.o.o.o.

  Luffy bounced on his toes impatiently despite still fighting, stealing glances up at Marco.  

 Marco circled carefully, thankful for the cover provided by the group’s various snipers, until he caught a glimpse of the Emperor. He quickly glided back down to the battlefield, casually kicking a beast in the face to knock it away from Law as he landed.

 “He’s on an outcropping. Cliff. Outside the jungle.”

 Law frowned, “Probably didn’t want to give Ace the chance to catch him in a forest fire…but open ground could be risky…”

 “For him or us?” Luffy asked.

 “Both. But the outcropping…that’s worse for us. Four of six can’t swim,” Law said. “We should-”

 He went to warp the head off an incoming attacker, only for a tiny ninja girl to leap up and headbutt the lemur-zoan-user in face.

 “Vengeance!” the tiny ninja declared.

 “…I’m seeing why you and Ace like Momo now,” Law commented thoughtfully as the little kunoichi bounded through the fray, merrily wreaking havoc while the stronger ninjas decimated the distracted beasts she left open.

 “Cool! A ninja kid! I kind of wanted to be a ninja as a kid, but I wanted to be Pirate King more!” Luffy said, before grabbing Marco by the arm. Law sighed, reisgning himself to the defense of all three while Luffy demanded the phoenix’s attention. “Marco, so Marco, where is he?”

 “That way,” Marco said flatly, pointing. Luffy instantly began smashing a path in that direction.

 “You’re getting used to him,” Law observed as Sabo and Ace scrambled after their brother. “And them.”

 “Honestly, my brothers aren’t always so different,” Marco said, flashing a small smile at some of said brothers dogpiling a giant stegosaurus before following Law and Koala after the brothers.

.o.o.o.

 Kid groaned as someone started moving his legs and arm. “Here t…finish me…hwa?”

 He blinked at the deer in the hat, confused. Kaido didn’t have a deer in a hat, to his knowledge… _straw Hat_ did thought.

 Kid groaned again, this time out of annoyance. “You guys? _Really_?”

 “This is a jailbreak, idiot, now on your feet!” Nami ordered. “Your crew is covering for us, but they won’t last forever!”

 “My crew?” Kid asked before lurching upwards. “What did you do to my-”

 Nami grabbed his cape and used it to shake him, “They-are-okay-now-let-Chopper-fix-you-you-asshole!”

 “That’s our Nami,” Chopper laughed.

 “Yeah, she’s great,” Bellamy agreed.  

 “Someone needs to know what they’re doing around here!” Nami said. “We need to keep moving, before we get attacked!”

 “I thought you said my crew was covering!” Kid argued as Bellamy pulled him upright and Chopper started splinting his legs.

 “Well we don’t know for how _long_ ,” Chopper admitted. “I mean, Drake and Hawkins can maybe handle Apoo okay-”

 “Where is that sonofabitch?” Kid snarled, starling Chopper and causing him to drop a splint.

 “One floor up, so, uh…how do you feel about being carried? Because you’re not ready for stairs,” Chopper said.

 “Bellamy, you’re a human crutch again,” Nami said.

 “Ma’am yes ma’am,” Bellamy agreed, saluting…and almost dropping Kid. “Oops.”

 .o.o.o.

 “Worst—weirdo—ever!” Wire complained as Drake and a recently-arrived Killer continued to do most of the work in fighting Apoo. Vivi and Bentham sometimes got in for sneak attacks, but Hawkins was too hurt and Wire, Heat, and Faust too weak to do much damage.

 “Ha-ha! You thought you could take me? Master of sound and fury?” Apoo asked. “I—ack!”

 Apoo looking down to see a blade coming through his stomach.

 “Hey, asshole,” Kid said, grinning. “What’s the sound effect for that, again?”

 “Captain!” his crewmates cheered.

 “Drake, I’m borrowing the axe!” Kid said. Drake let go right before it was yanked through the air, soaring for Apoo’s head.

 Apoo made a cracking sound, and the axe shattered.

 “Well shit,” Kid muttered as Drake roared, “MY AXE!” and transformed into his full Gigantasaurous form, tearing through what remained of the hallways and scattering rocks everywhere.

 “Cover your weapons in Haki to protect them!” Vivi called to everyone. “Or he’ll break everything!”

 “Who cares if it’s broken, it’s still metal!” Kid roared, the shards of the axe shooting at Apoo as shrapnel. Apoo made a noise similar to a flyswatter, and they were knocked aside, along with every pirate in front of him.

 “Someone’s gotten better, all right,” Nami muttered.

 “He is right about the anything can be an instrument thing…” Vivi said. “When I was hiding out from Crocodile, I saw plenty of normal people make improvised instrum…there’s an idea! Kid! Let Drake and Killer do the fighting for a bit, I need you for something!”

 “The fuck no, I just got here!” Kid said before swaying, Bellamy grabbing him before he hit the ground again.

 “Boss listen to her, she’s smart!” Killer assured him.

 “Do it!” Hawkins agreed.

 “Look, he needs sounds, when we yell he gets louder, but I have a plan,” Vivi said as she pulled out a stick and started to draw something in the dirt floor, “It needs to look like this all right? The big bit, and the little one.”

 “Hang on, that looks like a shitty… _huh_. This might be interesting,” Kid said as he set to work.

.o.o.o.

 “Seriously. How many underground tunnels does this place have?” Perona complained.

 “Enough for Zoro to be lost for years,” Sanji said, laughing as he ducked a sword swing.

 “Sanji, please,” Robin said. “Zoro could be lost in a single tunnel.”

 “Is this the ‘mock the swordsman’ hour?” Zoro complained, falling back to walk with Pudding and Nitro with a huff.

 “I think we’re all just tense. We really want whatever the beasts are hiding, huh?” Pudding said, shrugging casually.

 “Feh. I don’t care, but it may be useful,” Zoro said.

 “So…what’s it like, being Mihawk’s son?” Pudding asked, cognizant that Zoro was someone who’d be good to have on her side.

 “Eh. He’s good for training. Fair dad. Can be a jerk,” Zoro said. “Still can’t get around his Observation Haki…”

  “You know, my brother Katakuri has some pretty amazing Observation Haki,” Pudding said. “I mean, it doesn’t work exactly like Mihawk’s does, he’s a just fighter not a tracker, _but_ …there was one thing I thought of.”

 “What’s that?” Zoro asked.

 “Well…Katakuri got a little tipsy this one time, at my sister’s wedding, and confessed that he sometimes finds his Haki scary since he can see so far into the future with it. Like, five seconds, even,” Pudding said. “Because he can’t change it. It’s going to happen, it just lets him know so he can _react_ to that. But sometimes what he sees happen is something that, well, knowing he can’t _prevent_ it is terrifying.”

 “I don’t get where you’re going with this,” Zoro said.

 “I do,” Sanji said, having listened in. “Zoro, Pudding’s saying it doesn’t matter if you can never beat Mihawk’s Haki when it comes to him knowing what you’re going to do if there’s _still nothing he can do about it_ once he knows.”

 “Exactly!” Pudding said. “So, what if you can’t surprise him? Make surprise irrelevant!”

 She said it lightly, but Zoro felt there was a kind of cold weight to her words. Like she had some…history with it, in her own way. He wondered if she’d tested it on her brother in some way, for a prank or something.

 “That’s so nice of you, helping the moss-head like that,” Sanji said pleasantly. Zoro rolled his eyes at the cook.

 Nitro huffed. Pudding patted him on the head, locking her jaw to stop herself from yelling at him. Just a little longer…

.o.o.o.

 Kaido chuckled as he looked at the six opponents he faced. “Is this it?”

 “Think that all you want!” Luffy yelled before asking quietly Law, “I mean, it’s better if he underestimates us, right?”

 “I think we’re just going to have to go with whatever we can get,” Law said, shrugging.

 Marco eyed Kaido, “Interesting of you to let us get this close without a problem.”

 “I wanted to see your plan,” Kaido admitted before laughing. “And it’s pathetic!”

 “Well, if you really want to see our plan, we wouldn’t mind a bit of yours,” Law said. “What’s the endgame here? You fight us, in your head kill or subjugate us…and then what?”

 Kaido smirked. “Keep on.”

 “…Oh, you’re serious,” Koala muttered, looking ill. “this is for you, huh? Just…making others miserable?”

 “Winning,” Kaido said. “Face me if you dare!”

 Ace and Luffy hit him with a strong, combined burst of Conqueror’s Haki. It wasn’t aimed at them, but it made Marco, Law, Sabo, and Koala shake. Kaido shook a little too…before shrugging it off.

 “Hmm. Maybe you’ll be up to Red Hair’s standard…or you would, if I were to let you live!” Kaido roared, punching the ground. Law warped the group into the air before the quake generated from the punch reached them, and back down before gravity could drop them.

 “Uh oh…” Ace said.

 “Well, plan A’s out,” Law said, drawing Kikoku. “Time to give plan B a shot.”

 “Which one was that?” Luffy asked.

 “Countershock,” Law said. “…But trying to beat him up first, so I get an opening.”

 “So, the usual but try and give Law an opening?” Ace asked, cracking his knuckles. “Sounds fun!”

.o.o.o.

 “I see daylight!” Robin said, lowering her arms. “Not much further up ahead, around the corner!”

 “Finally!” Zoro said, drawing all three swords.

 “Nitro, check it out, okay?” Pudding said. “Check for traps.”

 “Me?” Nitro complained.

 “You’re jelly, we’re people. You’re more likely to make it,” Pudding said nonchalantly as she loaded her pistol. “We need to be careful! Who knows how well the ships are guarded!”

 “I could send-” Perona started.

 “No, Nitro’s sneakier than your ghosts!” Pudding said. “Right Nitro? Time to prove yourself!”

 “Fine…” Nitro sighed, slithering forward.

 “I still think my ghosts would have been fine,” Perona pouted.

 “It’s safe!” Nitro called, starting to turn. “It-”

 Pudding shot him with a bullet full of coagulation formula designed to instantly solidify Nitro, following it up with a second bullet to shatter him before he saw either coming.

 “What the hell, Pudding?” Perona gasped. “You like, killed him!”

 “Hey, this is war,” Pudding said grimly. “And trust me, Nitro was _not_ on your side.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lots of things get rolling this time--the fight with Apoo, the fight with Kaido, and Pudding letting her true colors show to take out Nitro before he finks on Robin to Oven or Pan, or causes other trouble. And Tama makes her initial cameo, to do more later. Shine on, you funky little ninja girl, shine on!
> 
> I do wish to note that Kaido is NOT a Dragon Zoan in this fic, as that was revealed long after I wrote several of his scenes here and doesn't fit with my ending. He's got something very different in store. 
> 
> Also, once again everyone learns the peril of loudly yelling while infiltrating an area. Lures people right to you.

**Author's Note:**

> IT'S FINALLY STARTING. This chapter is such a pain because it's all the setup, and even next time continues that a bit in "Welcome to the Jungle" were we FINALLY get the rest of the cast here (expect character tags to double) and the fighting starts. 
> 
> This is currently planned at six chapters, of which this and chapter 2 are likely the shortest. 3-4-5 all seem like long ones looking at what currently exists, but seriously, this was the one where I lost the most in the Great Computer Bricking Of Last Summer. Getting it back has been a PAIN even if I know what is the ultimate end-goal of various plots. There's a scene of Pudding and Zoro that I'm still trying to recreate...but still1 We have this chapter to start us off, and my goal is to TRY and get a lot of this posted by the end of the month, we'll see how it goes.


End file.
